history

Civil Rights in the Archives – Acquisitions

As the final post in the series about Civil Rights in the Archives, I wanted to end on a positive note. Most of my previous posts showed how archives and archivists have failed in the past to be welcoming and inclusive in their policies and practices towards African-Americans, and how this historical failure has had an impact on the curation and production of history.

In contrast, this post will herald some heroes, a small number of people who, over the course of less than five years, built one of the most significant research collections about the Civil Rights Movement in the South. This collection is nationally respected, but until recently, the men and women who literally put their lives on the line to gather these materials were virtually unknown.

Their story is detailed in an excellent article by Michael Edmonds in the Summer 2014 issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History entitled, “‘Bold (Not to Say Crazy)’: Collecting Civil Rights Manuscripts.”

University of Wisconsin history graduate students Mimi Feingold and Bob and Vicki Gabriner first approached the director of the Wisconsin Historical Society about gathering documentation from the Civil Rights Movement. All three had been activists prior to their arrival in Wisconsin. Mimi participated in the Freedom Rides, and the Gabriners had worked for a time with a black community in West Tennessee. Another grad student, Danny Beagle, also worked in West Tennessee, and undergraduates Chris Hexter, Alice Kaplow had been in Mississippi. These three would become the processing archivists and corresponding secretaries of the effort. The Gabriners and Feingold would serve as the field workers, traveling South.

Initial efforts began in early 1965, and by the end of the year, WHS had received commitments from Anne and Carl Braden and collections from more than 20 individuals or groups. By the middle of 1966, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had also agreed to send their papers. The collection was growing, and efforts were becoming more promising as the Braden and CORE materials demonstrated the sincerity and trustworthiness of WHS as an institution and their young fieldworkers.

In the summers of 1966 and 1967, the students took their efforts on the road, traveling to Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. Gwen Gillon and Leah Johnson, both African Americans, joined the teams in 1967. Gillon, an undergraduate, was already a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, having worked full-time for SNCC at age 17.  She had also teamed up with Stokely Carmichael in 1964  in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of three voting rights workers (Chaney, Schwerner & Goodman), who were later found murdered.   Johnson had just graduated from UW with a degree in history.

Among the notable collections these teams acquired were the papers of Daisy Bates; scraps from Fannie Lou Hamer (who was literally burning her papers as Johnson and Gillon drove up); the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party; personal papers of SNCC members and leaders; items relating to the Albany Movement in Georgia and Freedom Summer in Mississippi; and much more, including papers from small communities and organizations in the Mississippi Delta and Louisiana back country.

Although impressive, their work was not easy. And WHS director Leslie H. Fishel Jr. knew the risks these young men and women were taking. He wrote to the State Attorney General to ask if the Society would  be held liable if they were hurt or killed; the reply came back that the student workers would be covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Act. There were other matters, too. Fishel set aside $1500 for bail in case the workers were arrested.

By 1968, many of the students were finishing their studies, and Society director Fishel retired in 1969. The small group that dedicated themselves to documenting the Movement quietly disbanded through attrition.

But their legacy remains. In just three years, more than 200 shipments of materials had been received at Society headquarters in Madison; fifteen years later, leads initiated in the 1960s still were generating donations.

This story demonstrates in a powerful way how archives and archivists can shape the narratives of the stories we tell. In this case, these young people were willing to risk their lives. Much like the Monuments Men of World War II, they were operating “behind enemy lines” to ensure that the raw materials of history survived. Although their work took place over a very short span of time, their activities continue to have far-reaching consequences today, as researchers from around the world come to the Wisconsin Historical Society to research the Civil Rights Movement.

Part 4 (Conclusion) in a series.

Part 1 – Access

Part 2 – Collections

Part 3 – Description

Tourism, History and Memory

Jim Weeks, Gettysburg: Memory, Market, and an American Shrine
 (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2003).

In honor of the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg, instead of reading yet another book about the furious fight on the Pennsylvania hills, I chose to read this book by Jim Weeks. It was recommended to me earlier this year by Rob Thompson whom I met at the Future of Civil War Studies Conference this past spring. I had asked Dr. Thompson if he knew of a good book about Gettysburg and tourism, and this was the title he mentioned.

It is an extraordinary example of public history, and one that carries many lessons and examples far beyond Gettysburg and the Civil War:

How do tourists in the present day encounter history? What are their expectations? What do they feel they already know about the site or its story? How do their educational experiences and background affect their outlook? How has the historic site been commercialized? How do the business people involved in such activities view their association with the historic site?  What kinds of objects or services do tourists purchase, and why? How has the interpretation and commemoration of the site changed through time? How did the historic site come to be marked, remembered, and commemorated? Has this changed over time? What is the natural environment at the site – and how does that affect interpretation and the visitor’s experience? How do issues of race, class, and gender intersect with all of these issues? And the ramifications go on and on and on.

Every page is full of keen insights about the history of commemoration and tourism at Gettysburg. But even more enriching than that, nearly all of Weeks’ observations can be extrapolated to virtually any other historic site.  It is a case study, that can serve as a guide.

Highly recommended!

Ghosts of the Past – Part 2

Continuing my previous post about the session on ghost tours and the dark side of tourism at the Future of Civil War History Conference – more thoughts and questions raised by this session:

1) It’s my belief that ghost tours speak to the desire of some tourists to have a “transcendent experience” of the battlefield. To be sure, some people obtain this experience through touring the battlefield itself – but the ghost tour allows them to indulge their imagination, and through the descriptions provided by the ghost tour guide, the battle and its casualties may become more “real” to them. I recall the deeply shocking and moving photograph shown by Peter Carmichael at the session the night before; do some ghost tourists seek to “commune” with a man like this in his suffering? Do ghost tours “bring this man back to life”?

2) Several members of the panel made the point that ghost tours can give tourists a closer look at subjects not readily explored at a battlefield park. Rob Thompson, for example, a performance scholar and former Gettysburg ghost tour guide, said that the battle of Gettysburg was just the prelude to the stories told on ghost tours, because the tours focused on civilians, in the town. Glenn W. Gentry said that ghost tours often are more inclusive of blacks and women than more formal history tours. Both of these men added that ghost tours provide an opportunity for a negotiated history – providing a forum for open discussion, questions, speculation, and a customized experience (as in, “what do you all want to see tonight?”)

3) Question: Do ghost tours make history more accessible?  Think about kids bored with a standard history tour – but excited by the idea of a ghost tour. True, ghost tours are not factual history – but like the broader question raised frequently throughout the conference: if something gets people interested in and excited about history – can we live with the less-accurate if it will inspire visitors to seek out more information and get them interested in history?

Ghosts of the Past & Lingering Questions

Briefly, here are some questions that remain for me after this evening’s session about ghost tours and “dark tourism” at the “Future of Civil War History: Looking Beyond the 150th” Conference at the Civil  War Institute at Gettysburg College:

Question #1: Starting from the point made by Jill Ogline Titus that ghost tourism is not about history but rather about death and mortality (and more about our own mortality than about now-dead persons from the past): Is there, can there be, and/or should there be a link drawn between Drew Gilpin Faust’s work in This Republic of Suffering and ghosts/ghosts tours?

Question #2: Quote from Glenn W. Gentry, a geographer, “You can’t know Savannah until you know her ghosts.” How does this apply to U.S. history in general?  A.K.A. “You can’t know America until you know her ghosts.” AND taking that metaphorically – the ghost of slavery that haunts everything, that hangs about the ragged edges of the American psyche, that we don’t really want to look at, believe in, confront – because it is simply too fearful and shattering of the way we want to think of ourselves (or our ancestors) as Americans.

Question #3: Mentioned in passing, but worth exploring, David Glassberg asked, “To what extent was the Civil War an armed insurrection of slaveholders?” I’ve not heard it put this way before, and it is striking to think of it as an insurrection of slaveholders when the slaveholders themselves were so terribly paranoid about an insurrection among their slaves.

To be continued…..

Meanwhile, please discuss!